The Gavel Public House — Restaurant in Wrentham

After giving Gavel Public House in Wrentham multiple chances over the years, I can confidently say this was my last visit. This place has built a reputation for being “just not good,” and unfortunately, it continues to live up to that with every meal.

The food is consistently bland, uninspired, and lacking even the most basic seasoning. On this most recent trip, I ordered the steak tips, which were tough, overcooked, and had the texture of something that sat under a heat lamp too long. Completely flavorless and difficult to chew. We also tried the skillet nachos—a simple dish that should be hard to mess up. Yet somehow, they managed. The chips were stale, the cheese was barely melted, and the toppings were unevenly thrown on, making the entire plate soggy in parts and dry in others. It tasted like an afterthought.

The service was fine, but even excellent service can’t make up for food this poorly executed. What’s most frustrating is that there are plenty of great restaurants nearby, especially at Patriot Place, offering far better quality, value, and variety.

Gavel Public House seems content coasting on location and atmosphere rather than putting any real effort into the kitchen. If you care at all about flavor or freshness, skip this place. There are dozens of better choices just minutes away. I won’t be back—and honestly, I should have stopped...

If ZERO stars was an option that's what I would've chosen. First time and definitely the last time. This was by far the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant!! Our party waited for over an hour. We were subjected to whispering and glares from three young and seemingly useless hostesses the whole time. They almost literally told us in the same breath that they don't take reservations BUT the one table that could accommodate us, that sat empty for the entirety of our wait was reserved. When I asked for the managers name and number I was told she was actually there onsite at the time so I asked to speak with her. I then observed a woman come to the front of the restaurant and chit chat with her staff for ten minutes before approaching me to offer to push some bar tables together when it cleared out so we could finally be seated. She neither identified herself nor apologized for anything. I'm not even sure she was the manager, as she certainly wasn't conducting herself as such. Not even an I'm sorry!!! Needless to say I will never return nor recommend this terrible establishment!! The lack of customer service was shameful!!

For the record, Eaglebrook Saloon went out of their way to fix an evening that had been essentially ruined by The Gavel. There's obviously a reason they've been successful...

Oof. People love this place. I just don’t get it! First time there the food was horrible, I went back a second time because of others rave reviews! Well second time wasn’t much better. The food this time was decent, nothing special, over priced. As for the experience... let’s start with a pet peeve... when we got seated outside there was multiple nice tables open, yet we were sat next to the waiter supply stand where multiple times out table was bumped with no apology and they kept slamming the door to the inside area on our table with no apology. It’s like we were invisible! When we were sat, there was a dirty T-shirt on the table, I told the hostess, her response was “ya I don’t know whose that is” and left it on the table!! Umm... ok. It took about ten minutes for someone to ask if we wanted waters and when they finally did the waitress was rude and didn’t apologize for the wait (again this place wasn’t busy at this time). I asked if they had sangria. She said ya and then went awkwardly silent. I said do you have red or white? She shortly responds “both”. Then a few minutes later a different waitress comes and takes our drink order again... this waitress was much nicer. Overall another bad experience....